Of Course I Do
by SaoryEmanoelle
Summary: Vanitas didn't know what having fun was until he went to live with Ventus on The Land of Departure. Now, as Christmas Day approaches, he might just feel something more than happiness being around his bouncy, happier half. For VanVen Day and also the first day of VanVen Week! :D


Vanitas didn't know how many minutes he had spent on the bed, deciding between observing the outside through the window or simply staring to the ceiling with no expectations for the day.

His bedroom wasn't big. In fact, it was almost the same size of the others' except there wasn't as much useless stuff laying around. The only things he had were his bed, a wardrobe, a table at the corner of the room and a few books. There was a lot of empty space to fill but, honestly, it looked good just the way it was.

He pulled the blankets up, trembling a little. He still wasn't used to that weather and he imagined living in a desert for years would do that to pretty much anyone. It only got worse however now that what was called _winter_ had begun.

Ventus had talked about that the entire month! For some reason he and his other two friends - Who, not surprisingly, didn't seem to trust him at all - were too excited for that _Christmas_ thing. Even that duck and the dog who never left the Champion of Light were happier than usual! Vanitas didn't understand what the fuss was all about and after Ventus explained it three times to him he stopped trying.

More minutes passed and Vanitas hadn't moved, still facing the white ceiling. He had to admit that although weird it was nice to have a room like that, mainly because he could simply lock himself inside and not talk to anyone if he didn't feel like it. That gave him more time to think and rest, something he didn't do in all the years he had lived with Xehanort.

It was very quiet at the The Land of Departure, as quiet as his old home - if he could call it that - used to be. He rested his face on both hands and lost sense of time while staring to the wall when someone knocked on the door.

"What is it?" He asked, aware of who it was.

"Can I come in?"

Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Yes."

Ventus slowly opened the door but Vanitas didn't bother to look at him. He still had to change clothes, he was still wearing one of those weird pajamas they gave him and it was still too early to have a chat! Not that Ventus minded and after two months living with him Vanitas was used to that.

"Good morning!" The blond walked to him with an ear to ear smile. "It's 9 o'clock already! Let's have breakfast together?"

Vanitas took a little longer than usual to look at him. "Didn't you already?"

"No, I was waiting for you."

Vanitas looked away. "I told you, you don't have to wait for me every day."

"Yeah, yeah. Now come on, Aqua and Terra are waiting!"

Vanitas waited until Ventus left the room to finally leave the bed. He stretched lazily and yawned while looking down at his new everyday clothes. It took the others a lot of insisting before he finally accepted to wear clothes like Ventus'. He was so used to his own, made of and only of darkness, that it felt weird to have fabric against his skin all the time. Sure, it was comfortable, but a part of him, that pride he still had, would never say those words out loud.

"There you are!"

Vanitas ignored Terra's exclamation and sat down, pretending to not have picked the seat closest to the blond boy.

"Here." Ventus put a plate in front of him, a piece of cake on it. "I kept this one for you. I had to be fast or else Aqua would've eaten it all!"

"Ven!"

Vanitas didn't laugh but took the food. It wasn't the first time Ventus kept something for him and Vanitas imagined that was one of the reasons Aqua and Terra weren't too fond of him: They didn't like the attention Ven gave him. Well, sometimes he didn't either but so what? It was hard to say no to his other half, Ven was too insistent!

"Oh yeah! After breakfast we should go and choose the best ornaments we have! You know, for Christmas." Ventus said casually, looking directly at him.

"Ornaments?"

"Uhum. We already put the tree outside, now we just need some decoration for it!"

"The tree?!" Vanitas instinctively turned around to look even though there was no way he could see the tree from where they were. Aqua spoke.

"Terra and I bought one. It will be our first Christmas together after so many years, it had to be special!" She stared down to her hands. "It will also be the first without the Master..."

Even though he hadn't been there for long Vanitas understood Eraqus had been someone very important to them. It was a strange notion since his own Master was far from being a fatherly figure to him but for those three that wasn't the case. After a minute of silence, Ventus continued.

"I'm sure the Master would be happy seeing our home all adorned again!" He said, trying to cheer them up. "That's why we're gonna fill the tree with a lot of fairy lights and-"

"We… As in you and me?" Vanitas asked, frowning. It was snowing outside! And he really didn't want to do anything that day.

"Of course! They've already brought the tree! Now all that's left is-"

"I'm not in the mood."

"Uh?" The surprise in Ventus' voice was tangible. "Why?"

"Because not. Why, you need a reason?" Seeing Ventus' dumbstruck face he rolled his eyes. "I'm tired."

"Tired of what? Sleeping?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?"

"Hey, you two!" Aqua intervened. Terra was laughing. "No fighting here, please!"

"I thought it could be fun… For both of us!"

"Maybe for you." Vanitas took a bite out of the cake, chewing with his mouth open. "I see no fun in that. Sorry."

For a moment it looked like Ventus would insist but instead he lowered his gaze and turned to his own plate, eating what was left of his bread and drinking his hot chocolate. The rest of the breakfast passed in silence which was something Vanitas enjoyed, but he did find it weird how Ventus didn't say anything else. After everyone was satisfied Ventus took their plates and seeing as he had nothing else to do the raven stood up, cleaned his mouth and left the kitchen, walking back to his bedroom.

Oh, the silence! Sweet, beautiful silence. It was embarrassing to stay quiet among other people but here he was safe, with no obligations of being social whatsoever. He could do whatever he wanted to and whenever he wanted to! And so just like that he threw himself on the bed and fell asleep.

It felt as if he had slept for the entire day but waking up he knew it couldn't have been more than just a few minutes. He had never slept well in all the years he spent with Xehanort and now that he was able to just pass out he could understand why Ventus liked sleeping so much.

Of course, Ventus hadn't slept all those years just because he wanted to. Just like he didn't give life to some freaky creatures because he liked doing so. And speaking of creatures…

Vanitas looked under his bed just to make sure and... Of course. He always knew when another of them came to be! Stretching his hand, his fingers found what seemed to be a slim leg and he pulled the being up, holding it upside down in front of his eyes.

Another Flood. They had become irritatingly common right now. It was a good thing they no longer caused as much trouble as before but still…

"What are you doing here?" He asked with a snarl, feeling like an idiot for speaking to his own emotions like that. Maybe because he was Its Master, that Flood didn't mind his threatening tone of voice and swung its arms trying to free itself.

"Tch… You're pathetic. Useless little thin- Stop wiggling!"

The small being continued to move until it was finally freed, falling on the bed with a _thud._ The tiny Unversed stood on its two legs and glared at Its Master before it jumped around and went to the window, observing something in the distance.

"Are you crazy?! You're going to fall-!" Vanitas followed its gaze.

The tree Ventus had spoken of was huge! It was right at the entrance at the end of the stairs, a tree of a lively green already covered with snow. Flood was looking at it but then turned to Vanitas and pointed at it again.

"... What?"

There was a figure flying around the tree! It went up and then down, floated a bit and then went back to the ground. Oh yeah; Ventus said he was going to decorate it. Using his Glider to do so was the most logical thing to do.

Flood looked at him again.

"What is it?"

The creature crossed its arms, impatient, and Vanitas would have laughed if he wasn't shocked. Emotions taken form, alright! The things was he really didn't want to go outside now, he didn't. Even when Ventus looked so disappointed, he definitely didn't regret denying his invitation and he certainly didn't feel a twinge of sadness when he saw him like that.

Vanitas grumbled and crossed his own arms, ignoring the small being that was still glaring at him. Flood then went back to the window and stood there looking down, looking at Ventus. Then it looked at Vanitas and tilted its head.

"... What do you think you're doing?"

If that Unversed could laugh Vanitas knew that's exactly what it would've done. The blue thing jumped on his lap before leaping to the floor and waving at him. He understood its plan too late.

"Wait, no-!"

He literally kicked the door open, running after what now looked like a puddle quickly moving through the floor, going to where Vanitas wanted to go but refused to! He ran by Aqua, almost knocking her down, and only stopped when Flood finally took shape again and Vanitas jumped on it, holding it with both hands and almost falling down the stairs.

"I'm going to kill you, you-!"

"Vanitas? what are you doing here?"

Ventus was floating two meters above him, a curious expression on his face. The raven let go of Flood but the creature, instead of just running away, walked closer to Ventus and raised its arms in his direction. Not believing in what he was seeing, Vanitas opened his mouth in shock before hugging himself due to the cold.

"Hi, little buddy." Ventus picked the blue creature in his arms. "I… Thought you said you wouldn't come?"

Vanitas shivered and glared at the Unversed which snuggled deeper in Ventus' arms. He growled. "I wasn't… I mean… I didn't want to, I told you, didn't I? But that thing brought me and, well, I'm here already so what do you want me to do?"

Ventus laughed and put the Unversed on the ground. "Well, first you should wear some warmer clothes. Here-"

"You don't have to-"

"Don't worry. I'm not that cold anymore anyway." Ventus took his jacket and gave it to Vanitas. He would have resisted a little bit more but it was really cold out there so he took it without complaining.

"Fine… Now what?"

The boy smiled and looked at the tree. "Oh, I'm almost finished with the fairy lights. There are only a few left and the star at the top but then it's over-. Vanitas, what are you doing?"

Vanitas turned to him with an annoyed look as if it was obvious, all the remaining fairy lights and ornaments in his arms. "Picking these to put on the tree. Wasn't that what you wanted?"

"Not at once!" Ventus laughed and approached him. "Here, hold the end of it and I will-"

"No, wait, you'll snap it!"

"I won't snap it, Vanitas, pay attention- Look at what you're doing!"

The snow was still leisurely falling while the two discussed about the best way to decorate the tree. Flood watched everything, from the moment Ventus went up to his Glider and Vanitas used his darkness to float to the top until the moment they started to fight about how bad it all looked. Only when they got tired of screaming and disagreeing was that the two went back to the ground and stood next to each other, watching their work.

"You know… It doesn't look so bad." Vanitas said in a mocking tone and gave Ventus a nudge.

"Ouch- Yeah, it's not that bad. But the star you put there? Could be better."

"Shut up."

Ventus laughed and sighed; all that movement made him sweat! He let himself fall with his back on the snow, moving his open arms up and down.

"Come on, Van, make one yourself!"

Vanitas stared at him in utter confusion and slightly scared. "What are you doing?"

"A snow angel! Look!" He sat straight to show Vanitas what it looked like. "See? You just gotta lay down and move your arms like this!"

"Me? I'm not gonna lay on the floor to make a… A snow... Angel-"

Ventus' laughter interrupted him as he was pulled by his hand and face-planted on the snow! The blond resumed moving his arms up and down, laughing while Vanitas forced himself to stand up, clearly not happy with that!

"Aww, come on! You don't need to be so serious all the time!" Ventus said but Vanitas narrowed his eyes and glared at him.

"I already told you that-"

"You shouldn't feel ashamed for having fun, you know? It's good to laugh sometimes."

Vanitas stopped speaking still with his mouth open and laughed maliciously, shaking his head. "Don't you think you're too old to play with those things?"

"And what does age have to do with that?"

Without an answer to give, Vanitas crossed his arms and turned his back to the boy. He was cold, even more now that he had fallen on the snow, and he tightened his fingers around his arms.

"Then what about…"

Vanitas jumped with the sudden movement behind him and looked back to Ventus, closing his eyes when a snowball hit him on the face.

"A snowball fight? Há!"

Ventus bent down, already making another ball even before Vanitas could say anything. Outraged, he pushed the snow out of his face.

"What the hell was that?"

"A snowball." Ventus replied and Vanitas clenched his teeth, not enjoying Ventus' mocking and malicious look.

"You don't say!"

Another snowball was thrown against him and Vanitas punched it out of the way before it hit him, holding back his will to summon Void Gear!

"Are you really going to be defeated by me? I thought this would be more challenging, you know. How disappointing." Ventus empathized and the raven grumbled, bent down quickly and clumsily gathered enough snow in his hands until he had something that looked slightly like a ball.

"Only in your dreams!" Vanitas retorted and threw it against the blond but Ventus dodged and threw more against him, hitting his arm and his leg.

"Who's too slow now, uh?"

"- !"

Snowballs flew from one side to the other thrown with speed and aptitude, a few of them hitting their target and others joining the snow under their feet. Ventus slipped once or twice, Vanitas was hit more than once on his face but soon enough every mutter turned into laughter and almost at the same time the two stumbled forward and fell on the ground. Ventus was catching his breath and Vanitas tried to stop laughing uselessly. He felt tired. He hadn't even fought, he hadn't done anything that demanded too much energy, but he still felt tired! In a good way. It was weird.

"That-" Ventus said when he finally managed to. "-is a snowball fight!"

"... It's pretty good." All of that moving around at least made the cold more bearable.

"Did you like it?"

Vanitas stopped laughing and raised his head to look at Ventus. As expected he was met with the same ear to ear smile from before. It felt natural to him, smiling like that. Despite his memories, Vanitas didn't remember being this happy when they were one. Perhaps the way Xehanort raised him had truly changed him.

"Van?"

"I… I did."

"It's fun, isn't it?" Ventus giggled a bit, watching the snow flakes fall over his head. Vanitas at last lay down next to him, allowing himself to rest.

"It's… Interesting, I guess. Tiring too."

"Just admit you had fun!"

Vanitas rolled his eyes but laughed. "Fine. I had fun. Happy now?"

Ventus laughed as well and looked to him. It was the first time Vanitas actually took his time to look at his other half, noticing the pink tint on his cheeks. His blue eyes, once his own, felt like they belonged to him better, belonged with that joyful, beautiful light.

"Mmhm!" Ventus said. "I'm happy you liked it. I really like being with you, Van."

Vanitas raised a brow at him and shook his head. He jumped when something sat on his lap but soon relaxed when he saw the small Flood there. Had he watched everything…?

"... So you miss me when I'm not around, eh?" Vanitas mocked, grinning with irony but contrary to what he expected Ven didn't hesitate when he replied.

"I do."

The Flood perked up and looked at Ventus for a few seconds and then at Vanitas, attentive to his cheeks which had turned slightly red. Groaning to the creature but still petting it, Vanitas sighed awkwardly.

"What about you? Do you miss me?"

Vanitas didn't reply right away. Ventus' voice was voice filled with the innocence of someone who wanted to be missed, someone like himself. He thought for a few seconds and looked to the star at the top of the tree. Gently petting the small Unversed's head and watching the snow flakes fall peacefully over them, Vanitas blushed again.

"... Of course I do."


End file.
